The present invention relates to control apparatus and method for an automatic transmission equipped with an idle stop function, and particularly to control apparatus and method for a belt-type continuously-variable transmission.
In a vehicle having the idle stop function, a normal combustion (steady-state combustion) of an engine is carried out immediately after a restart of the engine. Hence an engine rotational speed blows up (i.e., rapidly increases) to a speed higher than a required engine speed, and an excessively high torque is inputted to a clutch. Thereby, there is a possibility that a vibration and an abrupt burst-out of the vehicle are generated.
A Japanese Patent Application Provisional Publication No. 2001-349226 published on Dec. 21, 2001 exemplifies a previously proposed technique in a vehicle equipped with the idle stop function. In this technique, a regenerative motor absorbs (uses) the engine speed higher than the required engine speed in order to avoid the input of the excessively high torque to the clutch, after the engine is restarted.